NEW YORK — The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reaches its rainbow-laden crescendo as New York and other major cities around the world host major parades and marches on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The festivities in Manhattan, home to the nation\u2019s oldest and largest Pride celebration, kick off with a march down Fifth Avenue featuring more than 700 participating groups and expected huge crowds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marchers will wind past the Stonewall Inn<\/a>, a Greenwich Village gay bar where a 1969 police raid triggered protests and fired up the LGBTQ+ rights movement<\/a>. The site is now a national monument<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In San Francisco, marchers in another of the world\u2019s largest Pride events will head down the city\u2019s central Market Street, reaching concert stages set up at the Civic Center Plaza. San Francisco\u2019s mammoth City Hall is also among the venues hosting a post-march party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and Toronto, Canada are among the other major North American cities hosting Pride parades on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several global cities including Tokyo, Paris and Sao Paulo<\/a>, held their events earlier this month<\/a> while others come later in the year, including London in July and Rio de Janeiro in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first pride march was held in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pride celebrations are typically a daylong mix of jubilant street parties and political protest, but organizers said this year\u2019s iterations will take a more defiant stance than recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The festivities come days after the tenth anniversary<\/a> of the Supreme Court\u2019s landmark June 26, 2015, ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges<\/a> that recognized same-sex marriage nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, have sought to roll back LGBTQ+ friendly policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since taking office in January, Trump has specifically targeted transgender people, removing them from the military<\/a>, preventing federal insurance programs from paying for gender-affirmation surgeries<\/a> for young people and attempting to keep transgender athletes out of girls and women\u2019s sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The theme for the Manhattan event is, appropriately, \u201cRise Up: Pride in Protest.” San Francisco\u2019s Pride theme is \u201cQueer Joy is Resistance\u201d while Seattle\u2019s is simply \u201cLouder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is not a time to be quiet,\u201d Patti Hearn, Seattle Pride\u2019s executive director, said in a statement ahead of the event. \u201cWe will stand up. We will speak up. We will get loud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the other headwinds faced by gay rights groups this year is the loss of corporate sponsorship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n